What are Hilton Honors hotel points worth?

This article is our attempt to decide what Hilton Honors points are worth. How should you value them?

Valuing miles and points is a thankless job. We have always published articles on what Avios points are worth, but that Avios article is so complex that it simply proves my point.

In the face of constant reader requests, however, I wrote this series of articles on how we value each of the major hotel points currencies.

You can buy Hilton Honors points here.

Here are links to the full series:

• What are Accor Live Limitless points worth?
• What are IHG One Rewards points worth?
• What are Marriott Bonvoy points worth?
• What are Radisson Rewards points worth?
• What are World of Hyatt points worth?
• Which hotel loyalty programme is the most rewarding, based on our points valuations?

The reason I have changed my mind after all these years is that I have found a methodology that works for me. It takes a subjective valuation and then explains the boundaries around it. Or, in plain English:

• I will tell you (without justifying it) what I think a Hilton Honors point is worth

• I will tell you, on the upside, how far wrong I can be (which is good news)

• I will tell you, on the downside, how far wrong I can be (which is bad news)

• I will tell you what Hilton Honors points are worth if you turn them into something else – usually airline miles – which effectively locks in a floor value

Why I think ‘range’ is important when valuing hotel points

When we look at using Avios for business or First Class flights, the ‘cash alternative’ is often a poor comparison. Most HfP readers don’t want to, or simply can’t afford to, pay cash for business or First Class flights. Their choice is Avios or nothing. Even if you can afford to pay, what are you comparing with? A cheap non-refundable sale flight? A pricier flexible ticket? The cost of an indirect flight, not on BA?

Hotels redemptions are different:

• you stay in far more hotels each year compared to the number of premium cabin flights you take, so you can be selective about when you use points

• you can usually afford to pay for a hotel if you choose not to use points

• there are far more options in the hotel market than in the flight market – most people only have a lot of miles in one airline programme, whereas you are likely to hold hotel points in multiple schemes

It is easy to sit on hotel points until you get a good deal

The net result of the three facts above is that it is easy to turn down a hotel redemption when it doesn’t seem like good value. You can pay cash or redeem via another hotel scheme instead.

Here is the crux of what I am trying to say. If you compare two hotel schemes:

• scheme A usually gets you 0.3p per point but if you are lucky you can get 1p

• scheme B usually gets you 0.4p per point but if you are lucky you can get 0.6p

…. scheme A may actually be the best.

Most people who try to ‘value’ hotel points don’t take this into account.

If you redeemed points for every stay you did, regardless of the cash price, scheme B would be the best. No-one does this though. In reality you can pay cash for your stays in scheme A until the day when a bumper redemption arrives and you can get 1p.

Here’s a real example. I value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.5p as our article will show in a few days. If you do 20 Marriott hotel stays and use Bonvoy points for all of them, I think you will average 0.5p, give or take.

However, last summer I spent five nights at the JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Venice, reviewed here. We booked two Junior Suites for 594,000 points in total. I got 1.0p per point, and this was a ‘real’ saving – I have stayed in these rooms before at this hotel and would have paid cash if needed.

Two years ago, I booked three nights at the Al Maha desert resort in Dubai. This got me 1.5p per Bonvoy point vs my 0.5p valuation.

Later this week I will be at a Marriott resort in Turkey where I will be getting 2.0p per Bonvoy point. Admittedly this is not a ‘real’ saving as I wouldn’t have paid the stupendous cash price.

These redemptions justified all of the Marriott stays where I paid cash rather than redeem for 0.5p per point.

What are Hilton Honors points worth?

With our methodology out of the way, let’s take a look at what Hilton Honors points are worth.

To keep things simple, we do not adjust for the fact that you would earn points back if you paid cash instead. This can have a noticeable impact when generous bonuses are running.

On the upside, Hilton Honors waives resort fees, where they exist, on redemption nights which must be paid on cash nights. Elite members also get ‘five nights for the points of four’ when redeeming.

The HfP average valuation of a Hilton Honors point:

0.33p

We are not justifying this valuation, except to say that I have looked at enough Hilton redemptions over the years to be happy with it. Anyone who knows Hilton Honors should know that this feels right. A £250 4-star hotel will usually be around 80,000 points. In most cases, hotels do not go beyond 120,000 points which would be £400. The absolute maximum cap for a Standard Redemption (not a Premium Room Reward) is 150,000 points which would be £500.

Since there are many luxury properties in the Hilton portfolio which cost substantially more than £500 per night, you can immediately see that a lot of upside is available.

How high can value go on the upside?

High, which is good.

Each Hilton Honors hotel has a points price cap. These used to be visible using the ‘Points Explorer’ page of hilton.com here but this is no longer possible, because the upper limit shown is now based on a Premium Room Reward (when Hilton sells you a cash room and gives you roughly 0.20p per point) and not a standard redemption.

Conrad Maldives, for example, will never go higher than 120,000 points. Waldorf Astoria Maldives, pictured below, is capped at 150,000 points.

Hilton recently added 400 Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties to its website. These are capped at the same 150,000 points but some go for crazy sums. I wrote here about how you can book a 240 sq m overwater bungalow at Milaidhoo Maldives (website here) costing $2,500 for cash for 130,000 points. This is 1.5p per Hilton Honors point.

Leading city centre hotels such as Conrad New York Downtown can get you 0.85p based on 90,000 points given that the hotel is currently selling for $1,000 on peak nights.

Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam is so pricey – €1,000 at present on peak dates – that you can easily get 0.7p based on 120,000 points. Admittedly, reward nights go very quickly here although they are often available at short notice.

Over Christmas 2020, I got 1.0p per point at Waldorf Astoria Dubai The Palm. It was such a good deal that I bought most of the points and still made a huge saving as this article shows.

In peak season, you can do A LOT better than our stated valuation of 0.33p per Hilton Honors point.

Two ways of getting even more value

Hilton Honors offers ‘5-4-4’ on standard room redemptions. Book for five nights and the cheapest night is free. This adds 25% to the value per point, assuming you stay exactly five nights and all are priced equally.

Hilton Honors redemptions do not attract ‘resort fees’. This can save you substantial sums ($30+ per day) at hotels in North America. It is the only hotel loyalty scheme to waive resort fees on redemptions for all guests.

Don’t forget Hilton Experiences too

Hilton’s ‘Experiences’ platform has had some great offers in recent years. This year we saw a VIP package for the British Grand Prix sold for just 125,000 points for two people which was an astonishing deal. These are ‘money can’t buy’ events but any realistic valuation usually gets you an impressive ‘pence per point’ rate.

How low can value go on the downside?

Not very low, which is good.

The great thing about Hilton Honors is that whilst the points cost is capped on the upside, it is NOT capped on the downside.

When cash rates fall, points prices fall. This is, admittedly, not a lot of use in key cities at the moment with prices at historic highs but will hopefully become more valuable over the winter.

You will receive around 0.30p based on tests I ran this week.

You can also use points to part-pay ANY cash rate, irrespective of points availability, if Premium Rewards are showing. In this scenario, you receive around 0.20p per Hilton Honors point.

You can’t get much worse than 0.20p per Hilton Honors point, which is what you get from a Premium Room Reward. If standard reward availability is there you won’t do much worse than 0.30p.

It’s worth noting that 0.30p and 0.20p are comparing the points price to a non-refundable room. You can add at least 10% to that if you would normally book cancellable cash rates.

If Hilton Honors devalues hugely tomorrow, what is my escape route?

This is our floor price. What can you do with your points if Hilton Honors devalues massively overnight?

With Hilton Honors, the best value is to convert your points to airline miles:

• with Avios, the rate is 10,000 Hilton points to 1,000 Avios

• with Virgin Points, the rate is 10,000 Hilton points to 1,500 Virgin Points

If we assume an airline mile is worth 1p, then you are getting 0.1p (Avios) to 0.15p (Virgin) in the worse case scenario.

The list of Hilton Honors airline partners is here.

In summary …. what do we think Hilton Honors points are worth?

• on average: 0.33p per point

• on a very good day: 0.45p-0.5p per point in cities (occasionally 0.75p+ in Summer 2024), up to 1.5p for the very top resorts at peak times

• on a bad day: 0.30p per point (value of a point when the hotel has reward nights available and is not at its category cap) or 0.20p (if a hotel has no reward nights showing and you use points to pay for a cash room via Premium Room Rewards)

• if you transfer out to airline miles in a worse case scenario: 0.1p to 0.15p per point

As to how this should impact your behaviour:

• if you tend to visit prime hotels in prime locations at prime times of the year, it makes sense to reject redeeming your points until you can achieve a redemption valuation of 0.5p or more per Hilton Honors point (those who may visit uber-luxury beach resorts should hold out for nearer 1p)

• if your travel style is more about travelling off peak and staying in mid range hotels, or you are worried about long-term devaluations, any Hilton Honors redemption which gets you above 0.33p per point is worth taking

If you want to buy additional Hilton Honors points from Hilton, the link to buy is here.

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How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (October 2024)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit and debit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

There are two dedicated Hilton Honors debit cards. These are especially attractive when spending abroad due to the 0% or 0.5% FX fee, depending on card.

You also receive FREE Hilton Honors status for as long as you hold the debit cards – Gold status with the Plus card and Silver status with the basic card. This is a great reason to apply even if you rarely use it.

We reviewed the Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card here and the Hilton Honors Debit Card here. You can apply for either card here.

There is another way of getting Hilton Honors status, and earning Hilton Honors points, from a payment card.

Holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card.  It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

• American Express Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)

and for small business owners:

• American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Business Platinum (40,000 bonus Amex points)

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points. 

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)